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Editorial:
"Know Thyself"
Alwyn Thomson
Comment:
Illiberal Democracy
Alwyn Thomson
From
the Director: Good News People?
David W Porter
Balancing
on the Edge
Tony Davidson
Grateful
to God
David McMillan
Space
& Freedom
David Hewitt
Imaginative
Engagement
Keith Getty
No
longer at ease with this dispensation?
Mike Wardlow
Living
with our deepest differences
Os Guinness
Deep
Questions
Johnston
McMaster
Steady
presence
Cecelia Clegg
No
longer lonely
Joseph Liechty
Something
to give
Ingri Sakaria
Bible
study series: Faith in the future
David
W Porter
Review:
The Elusive Quest, Reconciliation in N I by Norman Porter
Bill
Brown
Review:
Journeying Towards Reconciliation, A Song for Ireland by Ruth Patterson
Lynda
Gould
Review:
Islam in Conflict:Past Present and Future by Peter G Riddell &
Peter Cotterell
Alwyn
Thomson
Review:
The R Option - Building Relationships as a Better Way of Life by
Michael Schluter & David John Lee
Anna
Rankin
Review:
Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman
Glenn
Jordan
Summer
School Poetry
Various
For
God and His Glory Alone:
Study 6: Truth
NO LONGER AT EASE WITH THIS DISPENSATION?
It has been my experience that Northern Ireland exists in its own orbit where "living with difference" becomes "coping with difference" and any attempt to open up discussion on diversity is dealt with through skilfully crafted methods of avoidance and denial. Here, to be "different" can so often be viewed as a threat or challenge and we have often avoided discussing our uniqueness through the creation of a "culture of silence" which denies any meaningful opportunity to explore difference.
Given this personal critique, the call to me to become involved in ECONI, very close to its commencement, was directly due to the fact that I was looking for a way to reflect on how Christians relate to such a society. I had been involved in reconciliation initiatives for over 15 years of my life at that point and I guess I "joined up" (if that is what one does in ECONI-speak) in the hope that this was not just another peace group. It has been my experience that this is the last thing ECONI is or wants to be.
Over the years of my involvement, which has included a spell on the Board and a few years as Chair, things have not always been easy but the view was they were always possible. Whether this was making a public statement in the early days or debating whether or not to call a Christian Forum in difficult times, such decisions were not taken lightly and certainly never out of a selfish ambition to be "cool" politically.
In such a social context, where the default is "same-ness", it is all too easy to accept that discussing difference must be avoided, particularly if it has to do with religion, politics or cultural aspiration. Many people find such a situation hard to accept – but difficult if not impossible to change.
People, however, can and do make a difference. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has."1 How do you read this? Idealism? Optimism? Or perhaps within the realms of possibility? ECONI's view has always been that it is possible.
To put it another way, "Change comes from small initiatives which work, initiatives which imitated become the fashion."2 Imitation is the best form of praise and those pioneers who formed ECONI in the 1980s still cast a long shadow in the new millennium and many of their ideas have been taken up beyond these shores.
All this is not easy – it takes courage. "Yes, we love peace, but we are not willing to take wounds for it, as we are for war."3 By being willing to challenge sectarianism wherever it is found, ECONI continues to take risks for peace.
It is all too easy to support the status quo by remaining a spectator on the sidelines of history – to be content to be a consumer without experiencing the liberation that becoming a creator brings! We need to be reminded that true reconciliation is a journey and not a destination. In ECONI, above all else, we are fellow travellers. To commit oneself to the journey beyond sectarianism is to find oneself along with the Magi in T S Eliots poem Journey of the Magi, "No longer at ease with this dispensation."4
It is my view that ECONI can be judged against this criterion and be justifiably proud of its achievements.
I will finish with
a challenge which I hope you will consider. "None of us is born intolerant
of those who differ from us. Intolerance is taught and can be untaught
– though often with great difficulty. But in this area, as in others,
prevention is far preferable to cure."5
1 Margaret Mead in
The Search for Common Ground by Howard Thurman, 1971.
2 Anon.
3 John Andrew Holmes, Wisdom in Small Doses, 1927
4 Joseph Liechty and Cecelia Clegg, Moving Beyond Sectarianism,
The Columba Press, Dublin, 2001.
5 Kofi Annan, November 2001.
MICHAEL WARDLOW is CEO of NICIE and a long-time member of ECONI.
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